Javier Marías on Secrets and Betrayal — in Politics and Fiction

Javier Marías is Spain's most celebrated contemporary writer. He has been described as "a literary and cultural sensation" — a modern-day Cervantes. His latest novel, Thus Bad Begins, is a psychological, erotic and political thriller that draws on both his country's dark past and his own family history.

Born in Madrid in 1951, Marias has published more than a dozen novels, and has a long-running column in the national Spanish newspaper El Pais. His fictional trilogy, Your Face Tomorrow — about a Spanish academic recruited to work in British intelligence — was called "the first authentic literary masterpiece of the 21st century" by the Guardian. Widely translated, his books have won numerous honours, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and he's regularly tipped for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Eleanor spoke with Javier Marías at his book-filled apartment in the historical centre of Madrid

CBC RADIO

Read the interview here

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